Requirements Specification for idealnet/auction

--Specification for Auction Site--

There is a cycle of four auctions on the go at all times - with a week
between the closing dates. (Therefore a quarter of the database is updated
every week)

The company generates lots of pages with details of the items under general
classification. There is no search engine on the auction site.

Visitors place blind bids via email which are put against postal bids

Visitors register on the site and payment by credit card is accepted - but
only when their bid is successful. The transaction is done at head office.

At present they have to visit pages, note the details and send an email bid.

They do not get any confirmation of the success of their message - only
notification when they win the bidding

Currently the action details are conveyed into the central system in flat
files.

There is no desire to have a fully automated interactive on-line auction

Their client has a seperate ISP that hosts their site, and they want to keep


---What is Required--

There is a FoxPro database, existing, with product details and reference to
which auction is for- this can be updated by the client.

There should be a search engine which will generate the html pages in
response to a request for specific types of item. This would be backed up by
an auto - generating process which would be capable of browsing all items in
the auction. Where images of the items are available, it would be worth
including them on the pages.

After registering (or logging on via membership), the visitor should be able
to browse the generated pages to select items to add to a shopping basket,
noting a level of bid on each.

The visitor should either see the basket while browsing, or have an on
screen summary of the contents / value so far. They should be able to delete
from the basket before posting it.

When the visitor finishes bidding they should be able to post the result.

The server should send them immediate confirmation of their bidding. It
should retain the bid details and perhaps, also email every bidder to notify
them of the result of the auction at its conclusion.


I hope to here from you as soon as possible with your responses. Please feel
free to include any information that you think is relevant to the roles
offered.




Document Dated: Fri Feb 19 17:27:21 1999
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